"Contrary to the speculations of imperial scholars who do not share borders with its territory and therefore have little knowledge about it, the orcs, who have both beast and human characteristics among several major civilized races, cannot actually be regarded as an independent race."
Perhaps they were brave enough to be considered skilled in arts, so the group set up camp around the place where the adventurer died without hesitation, and by the bonfire, the sage began to explain what he knew about the orcs at the request of others. Related.
"The animalistic features on them are actually a unique mutation product related to magic."
"Just like this." He flashed the strengthening magic rune on his hand: "A semi-permanent magic for individuals. It's just that they are a mixture of blood and soul levels that can be inherited at a deeper level."
"The inner part of man becomes one with some now-extinct beasts, possessing the strength, cunning, or agility that people would expect from a totemized beast."
"Most orcs are the descendants of people who merged with some kind of spirit body in ancient times - that is to say, they were originally humans, elves or other races."
Kaleva took notes, and Henry's explanation sounded new, even if it was nothing compared to what they had been through.
"This is also the second source of orcs besides blood inheritance. At midnight when the magic moon is full, pregnant women who have lived in the forest for a long time or have been affected by some kind of influence will give birth to babies with beast characteristics."
"The elves call them beast transformers. They often have extremely strong magic resistance and physical abilities, and can become the top warriors in the clan."
"This characteristic of being a member of a certain race made them a bridge connecting the major races in the beginning."
"Even the name 'Dru Yin' was actually derived from the honorific title given by humans to the beast-turners of the ancient shamanic era. It was once a person who could transform from body to heart into the powerful creatures that they feared in the wilderness and forest. An honor."
"It was." He emphasized.
"When civilization was established, other ethnic groups shunned the world, and humans gradually respected themselves as the primates of all things and even tried their best to single out dissidents from within their own ethnic groups on the grounds of skin color, hair color, language and culture, what these beast-turners did The hostility and rejection I encountered was tremendous.”
"The blessed ones who were blessed with honors in the ancient times gradually turned into strange monsters, were ostracized and hunted. Even today, many people in the Otolo Empire believe that the bestialized organs can be given to themselves by soaking them in wine and drinking them. Special power."
"The destroyed orcish autonomous region of Rumanatona did not originate from ancient inheritance. It was the gathering of deformed people, people who did not fit in with society, and wanderers who finally gained recognition from the declining Lamanite branch in the west. It is a compromise that serves as a buffer against the rising power of Otolo.”
"But it eventually became an excuse for the Otolo Empire to launch a massive invasion." After returning to Rigal, he did not relax in intelligence collection. In the Padrosi Empire, which paid great attention to the circulation of information, even the battle on the other side of the Tambur Mountains There are also very detailed descriptions, and relevant information can be obtained from city-states of a certain size.
"The concept of human beings as the most noble being, the spiritual leader of all things, reached its peak when the Gulaman Empire collapsed. And the religion that has carried forward this concept and passed it down to this day still has a very strong influence in the entire central and northern region of the Rigal continent. influence.”
He didn't say it clearly, but both Mira and Kaleva seemed to see a mighty army, holding high the platinum flag that symbolized the sacred meaning.
"Filthy things, humanoid ferocious beasts that steal children's internal organs at night. Heretics, monsters whose souls have been tainted by demons and thus take on an inhuman appearance."
"They are existences that must be destroyed." The sage said: "And the most amazing part of this is."
"The orcs may not be entirely innocent."
The flames flickered, gradually weakening until they died out.
His narration added some reverie to the group before falling asleep, but after all, they were battle-hardened travelers, and the group who knew the importance of rest still slept until dawn.
The search after dawn found no trace of the target, but only found more victims.
The splatters of dried blood are particularly eye-catching on the light-colored bark of the beech tree, the most common tree on the East Coast. Under the clear sunlight, a corpse hanging on a branch several meters high in front of the group can be judged from the clothing, hairstyle and body shape. She is a young girl.
The scattered hair obscured the bloody face and could not be seen clearly. There were large blood stains on the collar and left waist of the light linen clothes, which were obviously where the wounds were.
Commoner women in the empire would wear their hair tied up when they reached adulthood. If they were still unmarried, they would have their hair hanging down on the temples, while those who were married would wear their hair tied up.
Only girls wear their hair loose or braided.
I think this must be one of the family members of the missing Orion, who accompanied the adults to search in the forest. With the idea of having one more person to help, he died tragically here.
The way she was hung high was similar to that of a leopard beast. This approach completely made the other people who had some sympathy for the plight of the orcs described by the sage last night understand the meaning of his last sentence.
"Didn't you eat?" Lu Lu, as an excellent hunter, noticed this keenly. Unlike the adventurer, the dead Laman girl's body was intact. The corpse, which had been severely decomposed for more than a month, was missing only one leg, and it was on the ground, chewed into bones by insects and ants.
"Some people will want to try cutting something when they get a sword. It's the same reason." Henry's metaphor is as easy to understand as ever. The desire for destruction is deeply rooted in the human heart. Sometimes killing does not come from food. Need or hate, simply because it can be done.
Anyone who wields a sword can almost understand the destructive desire that stirs deep in his heart, and whether he can control it with his own reason is the difference between a reckless man who can only dance a sword and a calm top-level swordsman.
The phenomenon of being able to transform into animals appears in babies.
A society that rejects them may have abandoned their parents. They have never felt love and tenderness and can only struggle to survive alone.
They have the heart and wisdom to understand the reality of their abandonment, and they can also see clearly the affection between their parents for children who look more human than themselves.
The two emotions of jealousy and hatred, combined with physical fitness and resistance to blows that far exceed human beings, will create an enemy that is far more threatening than ordinary adventurers or soldiers can deal with.
Following the rotten smell that lingered in the air, the group came to the cabin built by the hunters.
The signs of damage here are even more serious. The wooden door composed of several centimeters of thick planks was smashed and deformed, and the metal hinges on it were also twisted and fell off.
"Clang--" Mira's leather boots, which followed Henry into the door, kicked something. She glanced down and saw an iron door bolt about the thickness of her little finger, almost completely bent at a right angle.
The house was in a mess, with dents and claw marks caused by huge blows everywhere, but there wasn't a lot of blood on the floor.
"Forcibly broke into the door and attacked, but the hunter cooperated. Although he was injured, he escaped through the window." The blood stains extended from the torn up floor in the middle of the floor to the window. Judging from the size and spacing of the blood drop marks, More like an injury to a limb than a major artery.
"It's not good at killing?" The Luoan girl frowned. The power to forcefully break open the wooden door should be very one-sided even if the hunters were awakened and alert. It didn't enter through the window perhaps because it was too big, but after breaking through the door, it failed to kill an opponent whose physical ability was far inferior to its own. It only injured the opponent and they ran away.
"But it's not like those corpses are not good at it." Including the only half of the corpse of the adventurer they found at the beginning, they also found some dead corpses on the way to the cabin. Basically, they were added with physical abilities. A one-hit kill like a sneak attack.
"Are there two?" The inconsistency confused the white-haired girl, and at this moment one of the other three people who were investigating outside the house shouted.
Henry and Mira went out to check and found a broken hunting bow and dense footprints on the ground, the most obvious of which were many deep horse hoof prints.
"Are there any adventurers coming on horseback? Or are we talking about soldiers?" Because the residents of Chester who told them the details had heard about it themselves, they did not know the specific ages, occupations, and equipment of the 25 deceased. The dense footprints of people and horses show that there was intensive traffic here.
But before the group had time to think deeply, Mitya issued a high-pitched reminder.
Then there was a "swish" sound, and something huge and agile jumped out from the forest.
"Papa!" The Luoan girl quickly grabbed the saddle, stepped on the pedals, and turned over. But just when she was about to chase forward, the sage pulled out his sword and struck it in front of Mira.
"Dang!" The arrow that was deflected by the sword's face flew towards the side of the sky and then stuck in the mud.
"Arrow?!" Mira couldn't believe it, and Henry replied calmly while retracting the sword: "It's the crossbow, the tree with the forked trunk in the forest to the west."
"Don't give him a chance to reload." As soon as he finished speaking, with several missing arrows between his fingers, Lu Lu knelt on one knee and drew the recurve bow she had brought from the other side of the ocean.
"Pacha——" The hunter who uses the stars as a guide has an excellent grasp of the direction. In this case, Henry has already given the specific characteristics. In a few seconds, she found the crossbow machine set up on the trunk of the tree. A person wearing a hood trying to conceal his figure.
The crossbowman was lying in ambush only ten meters away from the cabin. The moment Lu Lu, who had excellent eyesight, met his eyes, a look of panic flashed across his face.
He stood up and tried to wind the string again, but it was this move that caused the arrow that flew silently to miss his torso.
"Ah!" A scream sounded, followed by the sound of falling to the ground.
"Go forward." The sage commanded Kaleva. Leng Touqing raised the oak shield covered with mithril and held a strange weapon captured from the inner world in the other hand. Ling and Lu Lu immediately followed. He pressed closer towards the crossbowman from behind.
"How could there be someone?" The Luoan girl pulled Mithiya and ran around to avoid more lurkers who were planning to shoot at her. However, the sage did not answer and picked up the stubby stick stuck in the mud. The crossbow turned around and was thrown towards the forest on the other side.
"Crack!" The arrow was blunted by the collision with Kramer, and the crossbow missed its target with a loud sound. Mira recognized this sound, which meant that a shield blocked the attack.
"Get back." The situation changed and Henry shouted loudly. Kaleva was stunned for a moment and pulled back according to his instructions.
"Qiang——" Several reflections appeared in the dark forest, and then several people holding a shield in one hand and a knife or a one-handed sword in leather armor or cotton armor walked out slowly and cautiously.
"Ah, ah hiss -" The crossbowman who had just been shot down by Lu Lu was also supported by his teammates and walked out of the forest. After all, the petite hunter girl could not pull the too heavy bow, and this arrow was lost. The shot hit his shoulder, although it made him unable to lift his left hand, but it failed to cause any more damage.
"Adventurers, I've met some of them in the guild." The girl Luoan immediately understood what happened.
The local people in Chester were afraid to go near the place where the accident happened. They were short of tasks and money. However, my group seemed to be well-equipped but not large in number, and there were three young girls.
To the uninitiated, they look like a quick buck.
"9 people."
"But there is only one crossbowman, and he is injured." Among the eight people who still have fighting ability, four are sword and shield bearers, there is also a northerner with a two-handed axe, and three who are good at half-swords without shields. .
I guess I knew they would definitely come to the cabin to investigate after accepting the mission, so I managed to track them down and set up a perimeter nearby.
The orcs who couldn't defeat the target of the expedition wanted to attack the colleagues who came to do the mission. Perhaps these people were responsible for more than one of the nine failed adventurer expeditions.
"It's so stupid." The Luoan girl frowned.
But this time they picked the wrong opponent.
Even though they seemed to have an overwhelming numerical advantage when the long-range shooters were eliminated, they had something the other side didn't have at all.
"Come." Mira called to Lu Lu, and then made Mitya turn around. She stretched out her hand and the petite hunter girl grabbed it and used the inertia to get on the horse. Then she immediately helped Luo Miss An stood up on her shoulders, and Mira stopped next to the cabin at the same time.
Mitya's shoulder height has now reached a terrifying 1.7 meters. Standing on it, you can easily reach the roof of the cabin.
She took the commanding heights and drew her bow and arrow.
The mercenaries raised their shields. They still had some scattered cooperation and tried to press forward.
Lu Lu shot two arrows and both were blocked by the shield, but the purpose of the attack was not to kill.
Shooting from top to bottom, the mercenaries held standard round shields. They also did not wear helmets and naturally raised their shields diagonally upwards for self-protection.
The moment her vision was blocked, Mira jumped out on Mitya and quickly closed the distance.
"Coming, the woman on horseback is coming!" The mercenaries screamed, raising their weapons and lowering their shields, while the Luoan girl quickly commanded the unicorn to stop suddenly in front of them and throw it out with one hand. She got her brand new sword.
"Dang——stuck!" A corner of the sturdy wooden shield was cut off. In order to avoid the big sword getting stuck on it, she controlled the distance well enough. And just when the mercenaries were about to launch a counterattack, Mitya's hind legs kicked out. Teng has opened the distance again.
One person and one horse jumped out towards Mira's left side, attracting the attention of the eight people who were grouped together. The northerners holding axes in both hands took big steps to chase after them, and it was when they collectively turned right. The moment——
With Medea's cover, the sage pressed forward.
"Peng!!" The foot wrapped in leather boots kicked hard on the lower edge of the shield. The round shield was not an armband structure but a handle. With only one fulcrum, it flipped over to reveal the mercenary. upper body.
Kramer's sturdy weighted ball smashed the bridge of the man's nose, and Henry grabbed him by the collar with his left hand and swung him toward his companions.
"Why are you running away!" The tall northern axe-hand shouted angrily and turned around, only to see that the sage who was not inferior to him was already killing him. He looked at the big sword and thought of some rumors, but was overwhelmed by the thought in his chest. A burst of bravery was suppressed.
"Drink!" He turned the big ax in his hand and slammed it down towards Henry. The mercenary who was in a dazed state and had a nosebleed in the sage's hand was lifted up by him and said, "Pacha!" ——" The back of his head was split open by an axe.
"Coward!" the axeman shouted, pulling back the ax and kicking away the corpse of his companion.
Blood and brains swirled and splashed on the ground. Henry moved towards the forest. The axeman turned around and chased after him with the bloody axe. At this moment, Lu Lu on the roof fired three arrows, all of which were stuck in his head. back.
"Uhhhhhhh!" The painful but not fatal arrow loss made the axe-hand go crazy. The two-handed ax he swung randomly made his teammates unable to dodge and had to scatter. Two people ran to chase Mira, while the remaining people turned around and planned to attack in the direction of the cabin.
"Hugh - Pacha -" The huge creature jumped out from the forest and bit a man directly on the back of the neck, then pressed hard with both hands and tore off his head.
A two-meter-tall werewolf with dark fur.
It has strong muscles and a murderous aura all over its body.
At first, the rustling sounds in the forest were not an illusion, but these low-level mercenaries failed to notice them.
"It's so amateurish." The sage said expressionlessly. The accomplices next to the mercenary who were instantly stunned saw the appearance of the target. One person collapsed on the ground while the other person tried to escape on his hands and knees.
He bumped into something while crawling and then raised his head. He thought it was a solid tree trunk, but suddenly he realized it was a human leg. Then he looked up and met Henry's calm gray-blue eyes.
"You! Ahhhhhh-" He stretched out his hand to grab the sword, but the sage's feet were faster than him. After being crushed by a hard kick, the man screamed and rolled on the ground. The sage met the eyes of the black wolf.
Apparently, they understand each other.
Who is the real opponent.
The silver-white Kramer sword's blade was lowered so low that it almost touched the ground.
And the sage.
Take a step forward.
